Country Factsheet for CESCR Committee
COUNTRY: NAMIBIA
SESSION
LAWS
(DOMESTIC,
INTERCOUNTRY)
GENERAL SITUATION
OF CHILDREN
DEPRIVED OF THEIR
FAMILY
Pre-sessional: 56th (October 2015)
 Child Care and Protection Bill (draft);
 Children’s Act (No. 33 of 1960);
 Children’s Status Act (No. 6 of 2006);
 Residential Care Standards (2009);
 Standards for Foster Care Services (2012);
 UNCRC-OPSC ratified in 2000;
 UNCRC ratified in 1990;
 HC-1993 not acceded to.
 According to a 2006 Demographic Health Survey by the Ministry of Health and Social
Services, Namibia had an estimated 155,000 orphans, and 250,000 orphans and
vulnerable children (OVC), which encompassed more than a quarter of all children in
Namibia. According to UNICEF, in 2012, 130,000 children were orphaned due to all
causes, whilst 76,000 had been orphaned due to AIDS.
 The National Agenda for Children 2012-2016 was launched in June 2012 by the former
Right Hon. Prime Minister, Mr. Nahas Angula. Other initiatives have been undertaken by
the Namibian government including the National Policy on Orphans and Vulnerable
Children, which was followed by the National Plan of Action for Orphans and Vulnerable
Children (2006-2012).
Sources: UNICEF-Namibia, ‘Setting Minimum Standards for Residential Child Care in Namibia’, 12
August 2009, http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/namibia_50761.html; UNICEF, Namibia,
Statistics, http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/namibia_statistics.html.
 Support to families and children: The Namibian government offers grants to those children
ALTERNATIVE CARE
OPTIONS
no longer in parental care (state maintenance grant, special maintenance grant for children
with disabilities, foster care grant, place of safety allowance). The coverage of grants has
expanded in recent years, but the grant criteria remain restrictive. The Child Care and
Protection Bill – the new legal framework that is being drafted – addresses some of those
concerns. In addition, local authorities are running after-school programmes for OVC at
community centres. In this regard, the Committee on the Rights of the Child noted ‘that the
State party provides disability, foster care and child maintenance grants and also notes that the
Fourth National Development Plan (2012/13–2016/17) advocates for the gradual expansion of
the grant system to include all children and additional measures to empower families to look
after their children’. However, the Committee was concerned that ‘due to a shortage of social
workers and community child workers, the measures do not yet reach all families and children
that require them’.
 Kinship care: Over 105,000 children receive government child welfare grants to help
their families provide for their care and support. Kinship care, including informal
adoptions, is very common in Namibia since most families in Namibia make their own
arrangements for children, who are no longer living with their birth parents. It is estimated
that grandparents in Namibia are caring for over half the children orphaned by AIDS.
Extended families are increasingly overwhelmed with the caring burden and these kinship
care systems, mainly unregulated by the state, are under strain because of poverty, the
high numbers of orphans and the low level of financial support from the government, etc.
The government has declared that kinship care is the most preferable option for children
without parental care in Namibia.
 Foster care: A 2010 study found that foster care in Namibia most often takes the form of
kinship care, and that it is often motivated by the desire to get access to the foster care
grant. In early 2009, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare paid foster care
grants for almost 14,000 children. Few data on children fostered by non-relatives exists;
according to the 2008 report Capacity to Manage Alternative Care, the number of cases is
probably small. According to a 2009 report from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child
Welfare on foster care, the group of children in need of foster care is growing, and this
need cannot be met by the existing available foster parents. In this context, the Ministry of
Gender Equality and Child Welfare released the 2012 Foster Care Standards and Guidelines
which are aimed to guide social workers and other service providers in recruiting,
assessing, training, matching, supporting, supervising and monitoring foster care services.
 Residential care: There is increasing pressure on facilities, their number increased from
nine in the year 2002 to 42 in 2008; only half of these facilities would be registered, while
just one is government-operated. A total of 1,008 children in 2008 were known to be living
in these institutions. In registered institutions, the majority of children are placed by court
order. According to an assessment by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare,
fewer than 20 % of the residential facilities for children are qualified to provide care and
support for children. In response, UNICEF partnered with PACT/USAID and MGECW to
create the Minimum Standards in 2009.
 Child-headed households: Namibia’s legal system recognises child-headed households as
a form of alternative care. A 2004 census identified over 7,000 households headed by 18year-olds and younger children.
Sources: UNICEF-Namibia, ‘Setting Minimum Standards for Residential Child Care in Namibia’, 12
August 2009, http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/namibia_50761.html; UNICEF-Namibia,
‘Fostering Alternatives for Orphaned or Neglected Children in Namibia’, 22 November 2010,
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/namibia_56973.html; Ministry of Gender Equality and Child
Welfare, Foster Care Report 2010; U.S. Department of State, Country Information – Namibia, May
2011,
http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_info.php?countryselect=namibia; Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Draft Child Care and Protection Act,
Adoption Fact Sheet, http://www.lac.org.na/projects/grap/Pdf/CCPA16-Adoption.pdf; Ministry of
Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Standards for Residential Care 2009; GRAP & LAC, Alternative
Report to Namibia’s First, Second and Third Periodic Reports, January 2012,
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/ngos/Namibia_LAC_GRAP_CRC61.pdf; Statement
by Namibia pronounced at the launch of the Implementation handbook of the Guidelines for the
alternative care of children, Human Rights Council, 7 March 2013; Foster Care in Namibia,
Recommendations for the framework, Report, 2010, Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare;
Standards for foster care services, 2011, Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare,
http://www.crin.org/docs/MGECW%20-%20Standards%20for%20Foster%20Care%20%20web%20quality.pdf; Lena N Kangandjela and Clever Mapaure, Work in progress: The Child Care
and
Protection
Act
in
Namibia,
http://www.kas.de/upload/auslandshomepages/namibia/Children_Rights/Children_g.pdf; Ministry
of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Standards for Foster Care Services in Namibia, 2012,
https://www.crin.org/docs/MGECW%20-%20Standards%20for%20Foster%20Care%20%20web%20quality.pdf; Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations: Namibia,
2012,
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/Countries.aspx?CountryCode=NAM&Lang
=EN.
 The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare stated in a 2010 report on foster care
ADOPTION
that intercountry adoption is the absolute last resort and is regarded as undesirable and
unnecessary for Namibian children.
 A 2007 Namibian High Court ruling makes intercountry adoption possible but intercountry
adoption is granted only to nationals living abroad, who are also related to the prospective
adoptive child. Although, exceptions are sometimes made in cases in which residents have
applied and qualified for naturalisation as Namibian citizen.
 Domestic adoptions as such are not widely practiced in Namibia. Particularly when children
are placed with kin, people do not see any added value in legally adopting the child. Namibia
approves a relatively small number of adoptions each year, with an average of about 80
adoptions registered each year in recent years in comparison to the high numbers of orphans
and children in foster care (in 2009, 13,800 were in foster care).
 In relation to adoption, the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed its concern at the
fact that ‘domestic and intercountry adoptions take place unofficially through unauthorised
private channels, and without any oversight by the State party. The Committee also note[d]
with concern the absence of national legislation on intercountry adoptions [and the] absence
of a legal framework and a specific body to monitor domestic and intercountry adoption’.
Sources: GRAP & LAC, Alternative to the Namibia’s First, Second and Third Periodic Reports,
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/ngos/Namibia_LAC_GRAP_CRC61.pdf
January
2012;
U.S.
Department
of
State,
http://adoption.state.gov/country_information/country_specific_info.php?country-select=namibia;
Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations: Namibia, 2012,
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/Countries.aspx?CountryCode=NAM&Lang
=EN.
 Poverty leading to family breakdown
 There have been reports of child abduction, trafficking and abuse of legal provisions for
adoption purposes, which have resulted in the above-mentioned moratorium.
 There is a need for better regulations and higher quality in care, in particular in
RISKS
POTENTIAL
QUESTIONS AND
RECOMMENDATION
S
residential care. Foster care also needs to be better regulated if it is to be promoted
and further implemented.
 Lack of leaving care policies, which makes this population highly vulnerable
 The new legal framework relating to children must clearly establish a reliable domestic
and intercountry adoption process, in line with international principles and standards,
which ensures that the rights of children, their biological families and others are respected
whilst preventing potential abuses or irregularities in the process (which could lead to child
trafficking), in particular as many adoptions appear to be undertaken unofficially without
the supervision or intervention of a child protection authority, which should also be
established to this effect.
 What poverty reduction measures are in place to prevent family breakdown?
 What specific support is being offered to child headed households to ensure members
have access to economic, social and cultural rights?
 How does the country intend to support the placement of children in kinship care, whilst
preventing any risks of abuse (e.g.: child labour and domestic slaves) in this form of
care?
 What is being considered to better register and monitor children’s homes and to provide
follow-up to the situation of children placed? What educational, vocational and health
standards are in place?
 What leaving care policies are in place to ensure that young adults re-integrate well into
the community?
 Efforts have been made to strengthen the human resources in the social work sector,
and a further increase and further training should be provided, in particular for those
working at community level.
 Once the country has enacted comprehensive legislation on adoption and assessed the
need for domestic and intercountry adoption, the country should take measures to
promote official domestic adoption and consider the ratification of the 1993 Hague
Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry
Adoption.
 When is the new Child Care and Protection Bill expected to be enacted?